Washing machine



G. S. BLAKESLEE. WASHING MACHINE.

APPLICATION FILI-:D ocI.5,19I.

Patented Aug. 15, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET l.

G. S. BLAKESLEE.

WASHING MACHINE.

AFPLICATiON FILED OCT. 5, 1918- 1,426, 142, v Patented Aug. 15, 1922.

3 SHEETS-SHEET 2.

fig

G. S. BLAKESLEE.

WASHING MACHINE. APPLICATION FILED ocr. 5v, 191s.

1,426, 1 42, i Patented Aug. 15, 1922.

UNITED sTATEs WASHING MACHINE i Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Aug. 15, 1922.

Application filed October 5, 1918. Serial No. 257,015.

Y To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE S.' BLAKESLEE, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of Chicago, in the county of Cook and State of Illinois, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Washing Machines, of which the following is a specification, reference being had to the accompanying drawings.

My invention relates to washing machines and more particularly to machines designed for washing dishes, and it has for its object to provide certain improvements in machines of the type in which the articles to be washed are moved over a tank and are washed and rinsedby water thrown upon them by means of paddle wheels or equiva-l lent devices which take Water from the tank and discharge it upon such articles. The

Fig. 1 is a side elevation of my improvedmachine partly broken away;

Fig. 2 is a vertical cross-section 'on line 2 2 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 3 is an enlarged horizontal section substantially on line 3-3 of Fig. 1;

Fig. 4 is a detail illustrating the gearing by which the conveyor which advances the receptacles containing the articles to be washed into and through the machine is driven; j

Fig. 5 is a detail, being a sectional view on line 5-5 of Fig. 1; and

Fig. 6 is a cross-section on line 6-6 of Fig. 5.

The machine illustrated comprises a housing 7 which encloses the principal parts-,of the apparatus, the lower portion of said housing being in the form of a tank 8 which extends longitudinally thereof and .is divided transverselyV at about its center by a partition 9 forming a compartment 10 adapted to contain wash water and a compartment 11 adapted to contain rinsing water. The general shapeA of these compartments` in cross-section is best shown in Fig. 2, from which it will be seen thatl said compartments extend laterally under r circular portions 12-13 of the housing in which are mounted paddle wheels 14-15 so arranged that they dip into the water in their respective' conipartments and by their rotation carry it up and throw it over laterally and downwardly on the articles to be washed. These paddle wheels are mounted upon a common shaft- 16 which extends longitudinally of the machine through the paddle wheel compartments,

from' a pulley 23 mounted 0n the armature.

shaft of an electric motor 25. The motor 25 1s preferably mounted on a platform 26 above the housing, as shown in Figs. 1 and 2.

The articles to be washed, which in the illustration are cups, are placed in a suit-2 able openwork receptacle or basket 27 which 1s moved through the machine past the paddle -wheels and over the water in the tank. For supporting the baskets containing the articles to be washed I provide longitudinally extending. rails 28, as shown in Fig.

2, these rails being so constructed that the baskets may be moved along from the inlet to the outlet end of the machine. For moving the baskets through the machine I provide an endless conveyor 29 at the inlet end of the machine, said conveyor being in the form of a link belthaving a projecting lug 30 adapted to engage the baskets 27 and carry them along into the machine. The advancing movement of a fresh basket by its engagement with the next preceding basket consequently moves all the baskets in the machine along toward the outlet end thereof. The machine illustrated is designed to contain three baskets at a time, that is to say, the fresh basket over the conveyor, a basket in the washing compartment, and a basket in the rinsing compartment.y The conveyor mechanism is arranged to move a basket into the machine and leave it opposite the paddle wheel 14- in the washing compartment. The next basket introduced will engage the preceding basket and move it along until it lies apposite the rinsing paddle wheel 15 where it will remain until a further basket is introduced when it will be moved out through the outlet end of the machine and be received upon a table 31 provided for that purpose, as shown in Fig. 1. The several baskets are provided at *their ends with brackets 32 which serve not only to properly space them apart but also as handles for convenience in handling them. The manner in which these brackets abut is shown in Fig. 3. i

The conveyor 29 is driven from the moto-r 25 by means of a spiral gear 33 mounted on the shaft 16 near the inlet end of the ma=l chine, as shown in Figs. 1 and 3. said gear meshing with apinion 34 mounted on a vertical shaft 35 which at its lower end carries a worm 36, as shown in Fig. 1. The worm 36 meshes with a worm wheel 37 which is mounted on a horizontal shaft 38, the latter shaft being provided with a spur gear 39 which meshes with a gear 4() mounted on a transverse shaft 41, as shown in Fig. 4. lllhe latter shaft carries sprocket wheels 42 which drive the conveyor Q9. Thus when the paddle Wheels are in operation the cona veyor is driven. Preferably l provide a friction clutch 43 between the upper portion of the shaft 35 and the 'worm 36 to prevent breakage should the operation of the conveyor be accidentally impeded.

ln machines of this general character as heretofore constructed the dishes or lother articles have been cleansed by first washing them in the washing compartment where they are thoroughly scoured by the soapy.

hot water contained in that compartment. after which they are rinsed by hot rinsing water from the tank in the rinsing compartment thrown upon them by the rinsing paddle wheel, the water in both compartments being used over and over again on successive batches of dishes. While such machines are quite successful it is highly desirable that the final rinsing of the dishes be done vwith fresh hot water taken from some outside source, as no matter how thoroughly the dishes may have been washed inthe washing compartment the rinsing water soon becomes contaminated owing to the soap rinsed from the dishes, and, therefore, the dishes are not as thoroughly cleansed as they should be: This objection is avoided by my present invention which providesnot only for the usual rinsing operation, but also for a final rinsing' by a shower of fresh hot water, supplied from any suitable outside source, so that the dishes when thev leave the machine are perfectlv clean. Als a further improvement my invention also provides foi automatically actuating the showering mechanism by the movement of a fresh -basket into the machine. thereby making it unnecessary forthe operator to give any attention to the rinsing operation.

meente For the purpose of finally rinsing the articles to be washed l provide a perforated tube 44 which extends transversely of the machine adjacent to its outlet end and is mounted over the path of the dishes, as shown in `Fig. 2. Said tube is preferably supported by extending it through a sleeve 45 at the upper part of the housing, as shown in Fig. 5, said sleeve being provided with a longitudinal slot 46 on its under side which registers with the perforatioiis in the under side of the tube 44. flihe tube 44 is closed at one end and at the other end is provided with a quick-acting valve 47 preferably what is known as a whistle valve. Said valve is connected with a pipe 48 which communicates with a supply pipe 49 throughywhich fresh hot water 1s supplied, as shown in Fig. 1. 50 indicates a lever for opening and closing the valve 47. 51 indicates a rod which at Aone end is pivotally connected with the lever 50 and at the other end is connected with a lever 52 carried at the upper end of a shaft 53, as shown in Fig. 1. At its lower end said shaft' is provided with an arm 54 which projects into the path of the baskets containing the articles to be washed and is arranged so as to intercept the leading end of the basket as it entersthe machine, as shown by dotted lines in Fig. 3. A spring 55, shown in Fig. 1, is connected at one end to the housing 7 and at the other end to a collar 56 mounted on the rod 51 so that said spring tends to move the rod 51 to the right as viewed in said figure, thereby closing the valve 47. Said spring also tends to hold the finger 54 in its operative position. From the foregoing description it will be understood that as the basket moves into the machine" it engages the arm 54 and swings it into the position shown in full lines in Fig. 3` thereby opening the valve 47 and holding it open until the basket has passed beyond the arm 54, whereupon the spring 55 will restore said arm to its normal position and close the valve 47. When the valve 47 is opened a spray or shower of hot clean water is discharged downwardly upon the basket then being moved out of the machine. While this operation is taking place the rinsing paddle wheel will be throwing water upon the contents of the inner portion of said basket, but the rinsing water taken from the tank will be washed off as the basket passes on This shower water falls into" nected at one end with the washing compartment by a pipe57, and at the otherend is connected by a pipe 58 with the rinsing' compartment, as shown in Fig. 1. Suitable valves are provided in the several pipes to control the flow of the water. Also for supplying steam to the washing and rinsing compartments I provide a steam supply pipe 59 which connects with said compartments by means of a pipe 60, as best shown in Fig. l. 6l indicates a drain pipe which connects' with the bottoms of the washing and rinsing compartments by pipes 62-63 and also connects with overflow pipes 641-65 which open into the said compartments at the desired water level. The pipes 62-63 areprovided with valves 66-67 as shown.

'I n washing articles such as cups or bowls it is',.of course, of great importance that the inner surface as we'll as the outer surface thereof be thoroughly cleansed, and it is also necessary that they be so disposed in the basket that the-water` will not be retained in them. This necessitates placing them either upside down or on one side, which makes the'operation of washing them more diicult as in order to cleanse them effectively the wash water and the rinsing water must be thrown violently against all their surfaces. This dificulty I have overcome in the embodiment of my invention illustrated in the drawings by employing baskets arranged to hold the cups or bowls so that they lie on one side and providing the machine with Va deflector 68 which is secured to the inner side of the housing opposite the paddle wheels and extends longitudinally of the machine, as illustrated in Fig. 2. This deflector is located slightly below the position of the upper tier of cups and is arranged to deflect the water laterally in the general 'direction of the paddle wheels. The cups in the llower tier are turned so that their open ends are toward the deflector 68 while the cups in the upper tier are oppositely arranged, that is to say, their open ends are toward the paddle wheels. The result is that the water thrown by the paddle wheels is directed into vthe upper tier of cups as well as over them and over the cups in the lower tier. It also is thrown over upon the deflector and` by it is directed laterally into the cups in the lower tier so that they are el'ectually cleansed both inside and out. While the deflector does not direct the water immediately into all the cups in the lower tier but only into the row nearest the deiiector, indirectly such deflector aids in directing the water into the cups of the next row as it delects the water sidewise and causes a greater volume to fall upon the cups in the adjacent row which themselves serve as deiectors to direct the water into the cups of the next row. While I have shown and described a single deflector, I wish it to be understood that my invention is not limited to the specific construction shown and described, but includes such changes or modifications ,as would be obvious to those skilled in the art.

While my improved machine is primarily intended for washing dishes it may be employed for lwashing any other articles to which it is adapted.

What I claim as my .invention and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is-

l. A washing machine comprising a tank,

-means for supporting the articles to .be

washed while they are moved over the water therein, means for throwing water from said tank upon the articles, showering means for discharging water upon said articles after.A they pass beyond said waterthrowing means, and means for delecting water delivered by said showering means laterally against said articles.

2. A washing machine comprising a tank, means for supporting the articles to be washed while they are moved over the water therein, means Vfor throwing water from said tank upon the articles, showering means for discharging water upon said articles` after they pass beyond said waterthrowing means, and a deflector extending longitudinally of the machine under said showering means for deflecting water delivered thereby laterally against lsaid articles.

3; A washing machine comprising a tank,

means for supporting the articles to be washed while they are moved over the water therein', means at one side of the path of said ,articles for throwing water laterally upon such articles, and means at the opposite side of the path ofthe-articles to be washed for directing the water back toward and u on such articles.

4. washing machine comprising a tank, means for supporting `the articles to be washed while they are moved over the water therein, means at one side of the path of such articles for throwing water laterally upon such articles, and a longitudinally-extending delector at the opposite side of the path of the articles to be washed for directing the waterback toward and upon such articles.

5. A washing machine comprising a tank, a basket adapted to contain a plurality of tiers of cups lying on one side, means for supporting said basket as it is moved over said tank, a paddle wheel at one side of the path of said basket for throwing water from said tank over and down upon the contents thereof, and afhorizontal delector extending longitudinally of the tank at the oppoof the uppermost .tier of cups for directing Water laterally toward the basket.

6. A Washing machine comprising a tank, means for supporting the articles to be 5 Washed While they lare moved over said tank, means at one side of the path of the articles to be Washed for throwing Water from said tank uponsaid articles, and a de-l flector at the opposite side of the path of the articles to be Washed and extending longitudinally of the tank for directing Waterv lateral-ly across the path of said articles.

GEORGE S. BLAKESLEE. 

